'Hounded', 'Hexed' and 'Hammered' by Kevin Hearne

Normally I would split these books up into three posts, one review for each. But they fit together so seamlessly that it felt like one long book-- one long, action packed, deeply awesome book-- so I'm going to review them all together.

Let me start by saying that I downloaded these books onto my Nook on a whim. A friend of mine had praised them highly on her Goodreads page, and I thought hey, why not. It was a wise move; once I started I was hooked. The trilogy stars Atticus O'Sullivan, the last Druid on Earth, who looks like a twenty-year-old college kid but is really over two thousand years old. He's living under cover, owning and managing an occult bookstore/tea shop combo in Arizona, hanging out with an old Irish widow who lives nearby, flirting with the cute bartender at the local pub. On the surface it seems like he's living a totally normal life. Except for the part where he gets visited by the Irish goddess of Death, his lawyer is a Viking vampire who accepts payment in goblets of blood, and oh yeah, his dog can talk to him-- in his mind.

'Sweetly' by Jackson Pearce

Like its predecessor Sisters Red, Sweetly is a story we know inside and out, modernized and retold. Jackson Pearce has taken a classic fairy tale-- in this case, Hansel and Gretel-- and cut it open, messed around with its insides, and sewn it back up again. The story looks the same, and the bones of it haven't changed, but almost everything else about it has-- in my opinion, for the better.

schedule... again.

Hope you guys aren't getting sick of these yet. Next up on Plenty of Pages:

• 'Sweetly' by Jackson Pearce - finished reading, review by 1/13
• 'Hounded' by Kevin Hearne - finished reading, review by 1/16
• 'Hexed' by Kevin Hearne - 1/18
• 'Hammered' by Kevin Hearne - 1/21 
• 'Ghostopolis' by Doug TenNapel - 1/25
• 'Lonely Werewolf Girl' by Martin Millar - 1/30

As always, recommendations and comments are welcome. :)

--emily

'Bloodsucking Fiends' by Christopher Moore

Happy New Year, everyone!

So I said I was going to review "Treasure Island!!!" by Sara Levine, but I changed my mind. It was a fast and funny read, but the more I write these reviews the more I feel compelled to focus this blog on sci-fi and fantasy books, of which Levine's was not one. It was funny, but painfully so, a bit like if Kimmy Gibler had a cameo on an episode of Arrested Development : awkward and ridiculous, each interchange leaving me unsure if I was supposed to laugh or cringe, or both. I liked it, but it didn't wow me. (Sidebar-- the fact that most, if not all, kids who are graduating from high school this year have no idea who Kimmy Gibler is, is a tragedy of epic proportions. Discuss in comments.)

Moving on: I picked up Bloodsucking Fiends at last, after it sat on my shelf for almost a year, staring me down. I was expecting a quick read with a lot of laughs, and I wasn't disappointed. But I wasn't expecting the commentary, the intelligence in the humor, or how the book turned the romanticizing of vampires on its ear.

Happy New Year, everybody! Clearly my last schedule has been made a thorough shambles of-- sorry about that. But I'll be back soon with a new review. I dove into "Bloodsucking Fiends" by Christopher Moore today and expect to have it finished by the weekend.

In the meanwhile, this is only tangentially related to books, but for fans of Sherlock Holmes and the BBC's fantastic modernization of it, check out this great review of last Sunday's episode. "A Scandal in Belgravia" was, in my humble opinion, just about as perfect as 90 minutes of television can get. (The review does have lots of spoilers, so if you haven't seen the episode yet, tread carefully.) Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat are pretty much two of the coolest guys around; as good as series 1 of Sherlock was, I can tell they're on the road to outdoing themselves. Next week "The Hounds of Baskerville" airs, followed by "The Reichenbach Fall" the week after.

Til this weekend, then. Happy reading!
--emily